Beach Hair – Don’t Care

If you take a look at the only proper photo I’ve had taken in the last 5 years you’ll see I have a LOT of hair. That photo was a small hair day straight after a hair cut. I love having curly hair, it’s great. Unless of course there’s water nearby, or it’s windy, or both. I would NOT make a good mermaid. So when it comes to hanging out on the beach I permanently rock the ‘mum bun’.

The Pool Party Sun Hat is designed to be made from swim lycra which means that you can hide a surprising amount of hair under there. But no amount of stretching is going to hide this beast! So here’s a super simple hack for you.

Take your hat top rectangle and decide where you want to hair opening to be and make a mark. I wear my hair quite high to the opening will be quite near the middle. If your hairy model prefers to wear their hair low then your opening will need to be closer to the short edge (further to the right in this photo).

Cut a square of fabric a little narrower than the hat top and draw a circle on the reverse side. The size of your circle depends on the amount of hair your need to squeeze through it! This circle is 1.5″ (approximately 4cm) across. For a child you may only need 1″ (2.5cm). Swim lycra does stretch, but this hole won’t stretch as far as you might think.

Place the square on the hat top, right sides facing. Match the centre of the circle with the mark you made on the hat top. Pin in place. Sew around the circle using a stretch stitch.

Cut out the centre of your circle, about 1/8″ (a millimetre or two) from the line of stitching.

Push the facing fabric through the hole to the reverse side of the hat top. If it looks a little wavy then give it a press (as it says in the pattern instructions, you can press swim lycra on a low/medium heat, but always test on a scrap piece of fabric first).

Sew around the outside of your opening, about 6mm (1/4″) from the edge, again using a stretch stitch.

Turn to the reverse side of the hat top and trim the excess fabric away.

Make your hat as normal!

Just don’t lend it to any bald friends, they would be at risk of some very strange sunburn!!